Dunleavy, Gráinne and Burke, Jolanta (2019) Fostering a sense of belonging at an international school in France: An experimental study. Educational & Child Psychology, 36 (4). ISSN 0267-1611
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Abstract
Aim(s): The sense of belonging is considered one of the basic human needs, supporting engagement
in education and increasing wellbeing. Yet few studies have attempted to enhance levels of student
belonging in school, which is what the current study aimed to do. The aim of this study was to examine the
impact of a classroom-based, peer intervention to enhance students’ sense of belonging
Method/rationale: An experimental study was carried out with 55 fourth and fifth grade students, aged
nine to eleven, at an international school in France. Two measures were used: The Psychological Sense
of School Membership (PSSM), which measured students’ sense of belonging, and the Multidimensional
Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale (MSLSS) evaluating their life satisfaction. Data were collected from the
experimental and wait/control group before, immediately post intervention and a month later.
Findings: Results of the full-scale tests demonstrate statistically significant growth in mean values in
both the PSSM school belonging measure and the MSLSS student life satisfaction measure. Statistically
significant growth was also found when the peer group questions were separated from the overall scale, but
not in the friendships’ subsection of the MSLSS.
Limitations: Future studies should consider a larger sample and an experiment with students from at least
two schools.
Conclusions: Results provided evidence for the effectiveness of an intervention to enhance school belonging
and student life satisfaction.
Item Type: | Article |
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Keywords: | sense of belonging; wellbeing; positive education; international school; identity; values and experiences; |
Academic Unit: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Education |
Item ID: | 14056 |
Depositing User: | Jolanta Burke |
Date Deposited: | 23 Feb 2021 09:55 |
Journal or Publication Title: | Educational & Child Psychology |
Publisher: | British Psychological Society |
Refereed: | Yes |
Related URLs: | |
URI: | https://mu.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/14056 |
Use Licence: | This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here |
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